Oak
by Kariko Emma
Summary: The war. The remedies. The ups and downs of love and thereabouts. Hatake Kakashi and Uzuki Yuugao have faced extraordinary difficulty, and a true oak will always stand firm.
1. Part 1

**Oak**

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**Author's Note:** Final installment to a cont of short stories, _Water Violet_ and _Dear Chicory_. Had to wait a while for this one to conclude. I was really hoping to see Kishi close out the war before I began posting, but I ain't waiting forever. Expect Parts (chapters) 2 and 3 to come possibly as soon as September and October respectively. Thanks. And as with the other two stories, I hope this could stand on it's own, but if not, please go read the other two stories if you should so like.

I'm really happy coming full circle in a lot of ways, with three parts. Thanks so much for reading—hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Naruto…

**Genre:** General—tried to keep this one a little light, considering. And thanks, my sister's favorite band of the 90s…you know who you are. (Because she had you on her license plate.)

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Part 1

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She seemed very resolute.

Her spine was straight, her cat-like eyes stayed upon him; her figure was quite still given what she had asked. But during the silence, she seemed to flinch once—at which point she reposed her hand upon her hilt protectively like he had seen so many others do in times of stress and anxiety. For the longest time, Gai didn't even know what to say. But it was his decision. He was in command for the moment while most of their unit was sleeping—including Kakashi. And while information was on a need to know basis, and Kakashi definitely needed to know…there was no waking him now. They needed him asleep to be at his best, in the morning.

Gai scowled soundlessly. He had no choice but to agree.

Yuugao nodded swiftly, a small action of relief. But really, the decision did not bring her pleasure. Far from it. Nevertheless, she smiled a little as she reached into her pocket and produced a small, sealed note. "Please…give him this, when he awakes," she said lightly. "It's nothing official. Only…personal."

"O—Of course," nodded Gai.

"…Well," she decided. Her voice finally betrayed the tingling fear spread out in her slim little body. "I will gather whom I need and we'll go."

"Say—" Gai hesitated her leave, "Say…you deal in those…those remedies, right?" She nodded once. Gai struggled for a smile, "Got any for situations like these?"

"I'm sorry," Yuugao returned the faint smile sadly. "But I used the last of mine three weeks ago. A friend of mine might have some left, but she's, well, she's a trip out of our reach I'm afraid."

"Ah…That's too bad." Gai sounded disappointed.

"Yes…well…I thank you, Gai-sensei."

He nodded, and nearly said goodbye to her until he thought of something a little less final; "Good luck."

She nodded. "Thank you. And you."

Gai watched her leave, with her small party and the few men he could spare. He looked down at her note quite guiltily. He wondered what it contained. The relationship between those two lately had mystified him. She had been sending the copy nin notes regularly. Most of the time they were under different aliases. Stupid ones like from, "Shinobi stuck under rock", or "Shinobi dangling in mid air precariously," or Gai's favorite, from: "Shinobi who kicks ass valiantly". She was an unusual woman. And Gai seemed to catch something new about her every time he met her.

Gai looked back at Kakashi. He was sleeping soundly in the distance. Not a muscle moved. It was one of those rare moments of innocence only sleep could unveil. Then Gai looked back at the little note. From: _Yuugao_, simply, it read. Marking it different from all the others. The night, Gai noticed, was still quite dark.

Hell. It's what Kakashi would have done.

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Shiranui Genma couldn't tell you exactly which circle of Hell surrendered Uchiha Madara, one of the most genius and powerful shinobi in history…now undead from it. The senbon chewing leaf ninja looked at the man from behind the five kage freshly assembled and Genma just had to smile. It was a hell of a smile. Before the first attack landed, Genma took out the needle calmly, fingering it like one of Sarutobi Asuma's cigarettes and Genma murmured to Raidou, "Hirsute, angry looking son-of-a-bitch if you ask me…"

Raidou responded in a slightly raspy tone of voice (the dust), "Well if he's undead, who the hell is the masked man?"

The raikage and mizukage kicked more dust as they charged ahead. Genma thought. Except…he didn't want to say it. Asuma would have said it. He was always unabashed in that regard. Even Hayate would have hazarded the guess. Not out of boldness or even humor; he would have done so in honor of the truth.

"…Genma?" Raidou pursued.

Genma chewed on the senbon, stuffing his hands in his pockets, watching the attack.

He just couldn't say.

Madara disappeared. The susanoo's form vanished under the clouds and the mizukage's attack. And Raidou said it, "There isn't any way for us to join the fray."

Then the cloud ninja near them spoke. "We'll go after the other one," he decided. "Help me out."

"Him…?" Raidou clearly regretted speaking.

"Now, let's go!"

Oh well, Genma mused ironically. They weren't exactly qualified to handle Madara…but another edo-tensei body? Genma stared at the second tsuchikage with three of his comrades and the kumo nin. He wondered then how Yuugao was doing.

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The Zetsu army stood like white…angry clay. Yuugao withdrew her short assassin's blade silently as she and her small team watched from green cover and grey shadows. There were way too many of them and only five in her team. But really, as the copy nin informed her, ambushes, like bushes, come in all shapes and sizes. Yuugao restrained her apprehension and explained the plan carefully. Her old senpai would have been proud.

She hesitated giving the signal when she noticed an old oak tree in the distance. The heavy boughs were waving high above the others, touching the blue skyline and whispering distant conversations. The last vile she had with her was oak. But Yuugao was a chicory. Slightly jealous, and unable to let go of certain things. She didn't stand quite that tall when she fought. Not like Hayate.

Hayate…

One of the men cleared his throat and looked at her. She finally took notice. Yuugao nodded shortly. She gave the signal and headed out first into the clearing, imagining each and every one Hayate's killer.

She was quickly over-taken. The beings were surprisingly quick, as ugly and anamorphous as they were. But she had fought them before. Using her blade and her element, she pounded the ghost-like monsters plaguing her conscience and the road Kakashi and Gai were destined to take. Then as she saw each of them closing in, in one giant circle, she gave the signal and used the simple old trick to get out of the way.

Substitution.

It was her old senpai's favorite jutsu. Because hell, half of the time she was talking to him he was never really listening. Kakashi used the jutsu often and stayed in the treetops, watching, waiting for the kill.

And attack her team did. They did well. And she joined the fray again and still, there were too many left. Still just too many... Yuugao roared with all her might, swinging her blade and her jutsu again and again.

The oak in the distance was unmoved as beads of sweat began dripping off her chin. Her limbs heaved and her fingers gripped the hilt numbly, reaching for the next misshapen form. One of her men was in trouble—she paved the way but another Zetsu sprang up to meet her. She whacked the thing back down into clay and blocked an attack just in time. But the enemy retaliated in some clay combo and knocked her backward.

She raised her head and saw the oak again. The glossy leaves shone like tiny mirrors, watching her movements from a distance. Yuugao stood up wearily; her knees and thighs ached like rocks. But she smiled a little as she remembered. "…I am the shinobi who kicks ass valiantly. I am…Yuugao." she said to herself quietly. "And senpai…knows it."

She charged ahead.

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Gai thought for a split-second that his rival eternal Hatake Kakashi was going to hit him.

Of course that didn't happen, but the thought, passing in a cosmic thread, hovered for a moment over Gai's head like a streak of lightning that just missed his handsome face. Gai then shifted in his shoes, pretending to find that blue sky the most interesting thing in the entire universe.

No, after Kakashi learned what happened, he raised his hand…and he started to read the note.

He moved away to do so because Kakashi was what Yuugao called a 'water violet'. Aloof and reserved. And perhaps if he had taken the diluted flower (a few drops in some water or juice), Gai hoped Kakashi would have at least used a good curse word Asuma would applaud. But no, Kakashi simply moved away after a short, inconsequential nod and read underneath the tree as the rest of the troupe was waking up.

Gai watched his eternal rival even now. (More fascinating than sky. More dangerous than lightning.) Kakashi swayed, reading the kunoichi's letter. Gai stood there staring awkwardly until rumor spoke behind him. Gai moved his head slightly. "Watch your mouth, chuunin. You're talking about the leaf village's own copy nin."

"What?" the chuunin scoffed, and looked around at his village buddies beside of him. "I'll bet you a thousand tsuchi yen it's a love letter."

"Well pay up, sucker," Gai retorted over their laughter. "It's not a love letter."

"How the hell do you know?"

"I read the thing."

The chuunin's eyes widened, "So…what the hell is it?"

"…A goodbye letter."

And Kakashi looked about through with it as Gai left his spot and advanced slowly.

The water violet kept his ebony eyes on the ground, and did not move his head as Gai came forward. One could never sneak up upon Hatake Kakashi, Konoha's greatest jounin, who nearly became hokage against his will. The water violet stayed silent. The white note, folded, was hidden again under his fingers. Gai finally knew what to say. "I'm sorry," he said calmly.

"Yeah…" Kakashi said lazily after a while, and added, "So am I."

Something hard was in his rival's voice Gai could not quite identify. There was always more to Kakashi, but his answer added something else. Something grander and darker than anything Maito Gai could guess at. And he had spent over twenty years guessing. It was something smelling like Asuma's last cigarette, and Genma and Raidou's alcohol in the bar. It was something Kakashi kept hidden underneath the underneath. And it was something he'd never consciously reveal. Unless…

Kakashi looked up at Gai. "Let's move on ahead…To Naruto's position," Suddenly the note in Kakashi's left hand was gone. Like some queer reverse-summoning for paper, he opened his fingers empty and then balled his hand back into a tight fist. The man breathed in. "Let's end this damn war."

Gai heard, "Let's go to the store and get some bananas." So Gai readily agreed, smiling.

They informed the unit and left.

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Genma was not having a good day. Neither was Raidou. Especially Raidou. Why he always got the short end of the stick was a mystery, as well as a stigma attached to him since early childhood. The run of luck was continuing now. "I DON'T FIGHT INVISIBLE PEOPLE." Raidou mentioned passionately under an assault of weapons.

Genma yelled back, "HE COULD BE TALKING YOU TO DEATH LIKE IBIKI WOULD."

"TRUE." Raidou returned, dodging sand while dripping sweat.

Genma was faring no better. Meanwhile the cloud ninja continued setting them up for joint attacks and faith like a true oak, unyielding and relentless, fighting even as there was not much fight left in him.

And Genma could not deviate under orders like those.

Gekkou Hayate would have kicked his good friend's ass.

But somewhere along the line as they finally gained the upper hand on the resurrected tsuchikage, and sealing jutsu was signed with speed that would even make the copy nin blush, the tsuchikage up and left.

Naturally, Raidou was in an explosive state as they all chased after him, but to no avail. The edo-body vanished completely and all that was left were the rumbles of someone else's battle. But the thing about war was that another new battle got their attention with a bang, refueling Raidou's passion as he crossed paths with an ugly Zetsu…thing. "TAKE THAT!" he shouted angrily, and took off it's head in one swoop.

Genma laughed. And in war, his turn came at one point…And Genma fell.

The sand caught him and cradled him on the dry ground, sinking in his wounds, turning the blood brown and the brown red and Genma looked up and noticed the bright blue marble sky.

You see in Konoha, the great blue thing is often difficult to see. Too many tree leaves get in the way. Genma looked up at it, so clear and so blue and so big. Then he heard another couple thumps hit the ground. And the sound of them came running over to him rapidly. Genma closed his eyes. He hoped it wasn't the Zetsus. Or any edo-bodies. Or Ibiki. Or even Raidou. Genma was too sleepy from all the weary dancing.

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	2. Part 2

**Oak**

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Part 2

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They could have stopped.

Gai was fully prepared to do so. But Kakashi continued running, at speeds to make his former sensei blush. Gai struggled to comment, "Perhaps we should take a quick rest…?"

"Don't tell me you can't keep up."

Gai sprang forward and grinned until he realized, "…Change the subject much?"

"Only when you're around."

Gai smiled. "Genma will get you drunk when this is all over."

"I'm sincerely looking forward to it."

"Afterwards, they'll probably banish you for indecent conduct…"

"I'm really looking forward to that, too." As if he really were. Gai looked at his eternal rival queerly. "…Then what?" Gai advanced.

"Then…I'll be gone."

Gai sobered and pondered the idea.

Until they came to the battlefield, and to the rescue.

_I'm sorry, Kakashi,_ she'd said._ I'm sorry I've gone on ahead. And I'm sorry I told you 'no', before. The inclination in my being and my vial tells me to let everything go because I try holding on so hard. I think we both know the battlefield is where we truly belong. And while you, without help or vial, have spoken truth, I have slipped from jealousy and into apathy. But I wanted to tell you I feel better now. Especially as the final battle looms ahead. I am prepared to die. But it does not mean I prefer to die. Because, I'd like to tell you _yes_ when we meet again._

_Sayonara…_Yuugao.

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Asuma was dead.

He'd been dead for a while now, but he still wasn't used to it. He did have his body (well, it wasn't really his, just some poor sap Kabuto killed) for a while until it was sealed again some time ago back to the land of…well…whatever this could be called. Existing, and yet, not.

So his familiar ghost flicked on Kurenai's radio in her apartment, causing their child to burst out shrieking instantly. Asuma scratched the back of his head apologetically, but Kurenai didn't take any notice as she rushed in with a new mother's gait, scooped up the child, and hugged him tightly. She cradled him back and forth until the radio noise finally caught her attention. It was a message, a late delivery from the battlefield. Yamanaka Inoichi had given the entire army an update: with the help of Naruto, they were holding their own.

Kurenai smiled a little, and thought of all the mud that wasn't on her shoes, and all the dried blood not in her hair. She looked at the face of her warm child again and soothed more words and love as she swayed back and forth. The woman came to the windowsill and noticed her bright red flower against the blue. It looked even more beautiful than yesterday. The color reminded her of Asuma. And of the hospital, were she spent quite a bit of her week, listening to the accounts first hand and treating them. She was never much of a medic—or teacher, but lately she had learned to be.

The news cycle repeated and the baby quieted, listening. Inoichi said it again. Naruto and Master Kirabee were on the front lines—with Kakashi and Gai. Kurenai imagined them both.

"Thanks Asuma," she said aloud, and shut off the noise.

"You're welcome," he told her, as she walked right through him.

Such a funny feeling.

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Yuugao was waking up.

Every muscle in her body protested as she rolled and lifted herself up gently. Finding rivers of dried blood down her arms, she found one wound still wet. The kunoichi fixed it, held her elbows, and looked around. The air felt cold—or perhaps it was her own body. She stumbled as she stood shakily and looked around at the sight. She knew she must have been unconscious for a lengthy period of time as she found dust on the unmoving clay…and her team.

Sitting down again wearily after a time she looked up at the oak through a dim, lavender-orange sky. It was the first time she paid attention to the color after the concern of her team. The oak, like the other trees, was beginning to appear brown and grey from all the dust. The gritty mist had moved in from the east. She sensed the epicenter simply by the cool breeze blowing in from it. The woman sneezed twice and grasped at her lungs painfully. And suddenly, as she recovered, she wondered if the army of light had failed.

But the oak was still waving it's darkened leaves. So maybe all wasn't lost. So maybe the fourth hokage just flashed by her in a yellow ray of light—

Yuugao swore. She kept on swearing as much as her voice allowed and pulled her hair and shook her knees and muttered and murmured, "No no no oh _hell_ no. Why did they have to resurrect _him? _Do you know how bad this is? And _senpai...!_ Senpai will be so _pissed…!"_

The woman pounded her fist on her knees in hopes of making them move, but after burying the dead, she was spent for the moment. So she kept on ranting and raving and cursing until something else floated down beside her. It was an object in her peripheral she attributed to the dust until she turned again and noticed Genma smiling at her wearily. The girl froze. Genma smiled wider. The dark violet haired ex-ANBU found the strength and stood up. She hugged him fiercely, kissing his cold cheek. "Genma!"

He laughed. "Now _that's_ a warm welcome," he admired her.

"Oh! Genma!" she remembered and paused for breath simply out of pain, "Did you see? They've finally gone and done it. There's no _way_ we'll win this war _now_, it's—"

Genma shook her shoulders to make her listen. "Relax, Yuugao. Relax. He's on our side."

"Relax! He's on our side!" she repeated incredulously. "What the fu—"

"He's. On. Our. Side."

"And how the hell would you know something like that. You can't even kept your vests organized—"

Genma merely smiled. He always loved the way she argued.

"…For real?" she ventured. And biting back a laugh, she added, "It's _not_ a ploy?"

Genma chuckled, swishing the senbon cheerfully over a grin. He nodded.

"Oh thank God," She buried her face in his red and green vest, "We've got a_ chance_…" Then she pulled away soon, "Oh, sorry, are you okay?"

He chuckled. "I am now."

"Oh Genma…" she sighed. She rested her head again on his neck collar and expelled her breath slowly, watching the lavender darken. The girl flinched. She couldn't help it. There was a rumble of thunder over the tree line, only she knew it wasn't thunder. It was something much, much worse. It was a shifting of power. A light of destruction. Her body shivered. "I guess…" her voice trembled unnaturally, "We should…head into the storm now, also."

"…You guess?" She heard him say. And then she smiled weakly. "I have a rib broken, and I'm still bleeding a bit. I might drop dead just trying to get there."

"Then you'll have to hobble over on some crutches. You'll be Yuugao…of the crutches."

She laughed—and gritted her teeth in the process, catching her breath. A few tears finally poured over from her yellow-hazel rimmed eyes and she winced, remembering her old senpai. "Genma…" she spoke up, "I'm…not sure I can go."

"Now what?"

"I'll…be in his way."

"What…are you going to wave your sticks in front of his sharingan?"

"Stop making me laugh, you dirty bastard."

"Dirty? _You_ should go look in a mirror…" Genma stroked her hair softly as she tried to calm down and chew down all her smiles. They could both feel the thunder of the champagne supernova a hundred miles away. A pin prick of light flared, then dissipated. The air smelled heavy and electric. Yuugao cringed, watching it, and she clutched the indigo fabric on Genma's sleeve tighter, grateful she could feel his presence. Her skin paled and her stomach knotted.

Yes. She had been in battle countless times. Killed. Fought. But this time…this time everything was on the line. Everyone, from every village, every chuunin—every jounin. Every man and woman. Every child. The flames were both frightening and tragic. Another one went off and she flinched, feeling hesitant for the first time in a very, very long time.

"Yuugao…" Genma spoke seriously, a tone he rarely used, "The masked man…isn't Madara." And her look of surprise slowly gave to horror. "You know…?" he started to ask.

"I…don't want to say..."

"Neither did I. But I'd bet anything…it's him."

"But that's impossible."

"Yuugao. I used to bet Raidou all the time. And besides, the fourth hokage just whizzed past you. You of all people should make the supernatural their business. It's in your name."

She fumbled. "No…Good God…" she uttered, and looked to the blackened, dusty east. "No…" she murmured again. "No…If… the masked man…has _any_ connection to…to Obito…then, _Kakashi_…"

"…Needs you."

"…I won't be able to fix anything."

"No one expects you to."

"I won't be able to_ do_ anything."

"Then you will have nothing to lose," Genma said.

"I could lose him, he could lose me—I could lose you, and you could lose—"

"—at cards. I _really_ really suck at cards."

She bit her lip to keep from laughing. And then she looked at him again.

He was slightly transparent.

Smiling, Genma touched her face gently, except she realized she couldn't really feel it. The air was cold where he was, and her lungs heaved and ached, piercing her voice in pain as she cried out, "Don't go—please, Oh God don't go—Genma—_Genma!"_

"Yuugao," he said calmly with his smile fading, "Just go."

_"…Genma!"_ the breath in her died.

He left her with that and she dropped to her knees, burying her face in her palms, sobbing.

The tears convulsed her form, stretching her muscles in agony and torture, but the shinobi cried anyway. It was long and hard and broken. Her palms on her cheeks pulled away at last, leaving small streaks of mud in patterns, paired with rivers of tears, as if the battle's topography had transmuted upon her face. Yuugao looked up painfully; her tears running valleys through it all.

Genma.

Her team. Her countrymen. Her compatriots. The world.

Genma…

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…He was always pulling crap like that.

Ever since the first day she met him, pulling her hair and pretending it wasn't him.

Laughing, smiling; talking through that wicked smile, chewing on a senbon. They made a game sometimes of running through the halls of the hospital to check on Hayate. And they all made a game of it, the three of them, in the bars and restaurants in town. Yuugao would always point them home after they got drunk.

Home.

Eventually her grief slackened due to the pain throbbing inside her chest and due to the sky—darker and darker it churned and finally, she made the effort and stood. Standing, wafting; a slow smile tugged on her salty lips after a while. "Who wouldn't want to miss that…" she said, and looked up at the old oak once more. Yuugao wiped her face, smearing mountains with rain. Her brow was still contorted and wanting to cry. She could still remember the way Hayate consoled her, when usually he should have been on the receiving end. He'd give her those open arms as Genma had just now and never once mentioned his own suffering, until she finally brought it up when she heard him cough.

Yuugao did so now, and it hurt like hell.

Brushing aside a few more tears, the woman slowly began moving.

She began moving in the direction of the oak and sky and champagne color lights, booming soft quakes beneath her shoes. A few times she faltered, but she kept going; thinking of the sacrifice. Thinking of the battle. Thinking of home, and all the things she wanted to do when she got there. She moved, slow, but sure. She clutched her chest and pushed for the desolate frontier. That place of scurry and action. Crutches and Sharingan.

Life and Death.

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Hayate was dead.

But he wasn't really as often as Yuugao thought of him.

He often wondered what she'd do when she eventually lost him, as he knew she would. Only he thought it'd come when he was one-hundred and two, dying in a card game because Raidou had finally run in with the wrong people. But Hayate had had a few years now to observe.

She put flowers on his grave regularly. Often meeting Kakashi there.

She strayed by the hospital, walking past all his old room numbers while doling out her and her friend's flower remedies to unsuspecting ninja. Often seeing Kakashi there.

She mentioned Hayate's name, at night, in the deepest and darkest of missions. The copy nin was usually not far.

Now she was going toward the battle, after meeting with Genma. Hayate smiled at his best friend's departure. Even in death, Genma spent more time with the ladies than anything else. Typical. Oh so typical. And Yuugao had been his favorite one. The woman knew it. It was why she continued walking to that desolate field, after staring up at an old oak tree for several minutes.

She was going to meet her old captain there.

Hatake Kakashi existed as a rumor to men like Hayate. But Yuugao mentioned her captain's name often soon after she started with ANBU. So the copy nin became human to the special jounin. And a dark and even more mysterious one at that. But Kakashi was friends with Genma in a crazy sort of way. And Asuma, Gai, and Kurenai…and all those other sensei and jounin who moved near the hokage and inside S rank missions.

Yuugao spent some of their nights recounting tales of the silver-haired copy nin and their crazy team. She wasn't entirely sure the man needed one, but the results were fascinating and gave her stability when Hayate and his chronic illness could not. He couldn't give her many things and yet still she was attached, even now. It showed like a ring he never gave her. And a vile marked 'Oak' which was still stuffed in her back pocket, reminding her of his goofy smile; his short and winded laugh in the face of certain death.

So Hayate came up beside her (invisible) and coughed.

(Because the wind is universally dry and thick with dust in all planes of existence.)

Yuugao turned immediately, her face flustering at her wild imagination, rising another ghost…Up until she feels her shirt stick on the back on her sweat. Hayate smiles, admiring the roses blooming on her cheeks beneath the thin layer of dirt. She touches her back pocket absently, and pauses pretentiously. She produces the vile and holds it in her open hand, carefully, quietly reading the label.

Hayate smiled broadly beside her, mouthing the words with her.

"Maybe…Naruto…could use this."

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	3. Part 3

**Oak**

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**Lengthy A/N:** Thank you dearly for reading this far with me. You're the best! I hope you enjoy the final installment. I'll still write for KaYuu, but _Oak_ and the preceding one-shots were really something special. I always write novels with the end in mind, but I never really know how I get there. Granted, this isn't a full-on novel, but it sort of felt like one. Also, I am _not_ claiming creation of the "Konoha Founders' Day" festival/holiday. I read much of Kimi no Vanilla's works, and I first saw the term there. So I attribute it to her. (She's an amazing author, check her out.) And P.S. – Thanks Prescripto13 for helping answer my random question, and also… sorry G'Kar and JMS!

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Part 3

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The color of the sky was blue.

As it should be.

Gai smiled faintly, looking out across the great big thing from the tallest bough of a tree limb. He had climbed trees since he was a boy—a handsome, raven-haired boy, who vowed he'd never grow up. Often, he'd race a certain silver-haired boy, jogging up the bark steadily until one of them finally reached the top. The mature boy, now, leaned off on one foot and one hand on the wood idly, thinking he'd come down in a minute and—

"GAI-SENSEI!"

Gai recovered on the third limb and laughed, "Lee…? Is that you?"

For it could not have been Neji.

It was Lee, "Gai-sensei…! Are you all right?" he called.

Gai jumped down at last, grinning, "Hai, hai…What is it, Lee?"

"It's…a letter," Lee extended it awkwardly.

"Oh? Well..." Thinking it was something official (what wasn't these days), Gai was extremely surprised to read the face, _To Gai_, it wrote neatly, From, _Shinobi who prays continually_.

Maito Gai chuckled.

"Gai-sensei…" Lee began respectfully, "May I ask _who_…?"

His sensei smiled at once, "…An old friend."

Lee blinked with even more confusion. The young man nodded his head slowly when his sensei glanced his way again. But the war had ended over four years ago. If Gai admitted his generation was old, Rock Lee must therefore be considered almost ancient. Lee did not like this. Shaking his head, "Gai-sensei, you are not old, nor—"

"Did I say old?" Gai smiled, and for once in course of their relationship, he messed up his student's hair. It was the same shade and length as his own though they shared no relation beyond master and student. "I meant…_wiser_."

Lee smiled tersely, and shook his black bangs back in place. He continued watching his exuberant sensei keenly. "Besides, how could you know who brought the note? She was not old by any means. In fact—"

"I know who brought it," Gai said simply.

"No…you can't!" Lee smiled incredulously, "Not unless…" he was about to say unless Gai had acquired a Hyuuga's vision. But Lee dropped the theory, and the mention, feeling pain in his chest over his fallen comrade. "But…how?!"

"I…just know," Gai looked at him, smiling. "Didn't I just get done telling you I am wiser?"

Lee's smile flattened, as if the statement had been the initiation of a long-lost duel.

The two men walked out of the forest.

And into the sun.

.

"I hired you to _fix_ it," the coal-haired woman said, "Not to burn down my entire apartment."

"Hai, hai…" the electrician mumbled nervously. His head was almost halfway in the box, and Kurenai was ready to give a shove to the other half. Especially as he tweaked another wire, it sparked. Her lights flickered for a moment and Kurenai hid her jump by backing away. Then all of a sudden, she heard the doorbell ring. The electrician jumped higher, hitting his head on the box.

Kurenai smirked.

The woman patted her ivory garment from habit, even though there was little dust anymore. Answering the door, she did not have to look down to find Hinata standing there, with a cool, calm smile like a splash of water. The tall girl brushed aside her violet locks casually, "Hi, Kurenai-sensei," she smiled shyly.

"Hinata…! Good! You're just in time for the fireworks!"

"…Fireworks?" Hinata questioned quietly, her brow peaking, though hidden under her thick purple bangs. "But the Konoha Founders' Day celebrations are not for another week—"

"Yes," said the girl's former sensei, "Yes…I meant from the wires," Kurenai moved and nodded to the service man. "More of my appliances keep turning on and off by themselves lately and I've had it. So I've got him looking for any loose wires," she pointed. "But so far, he's only managed to replace the little light bulb that goes in my refrigerator. Which I could have done myself…but…" Hinata listened to all this dutifully, with the calm, quiet, happy smile still on her face. Kurenai digressed, "Sorry, Hinata…" the coal haired woman smiled. "Men…" she sighed. "Oh, speaking of men, have you come about my son again? Has he done something?"

Hinata shook her head. "No, no, it's not that, sensei. It's…a message." The violet haired girl produced the note.

"A message?" Kurenai took it curiously. The face was blank with the exception of her name. So, she tore it open and read the small message written inside. Kurenai nodded after a moment, and crumpled the thing back into a fold in her fist, "Thank you Hinata, I understand."

Hinata opened her eyes and did not inquire further. "Well, then, um, goodbye, Kurenai-sensei. Good luck!"

"Thank you. Goodbye, Hinata. Pray you don't see me as _ash_ the next time…"

Hinata's smile finally turned into a very nervous one. And from habit, she walked out of the room slowly—"It's okay, Hinata," smiled Kurenai, "I'm sure there's someone in this building who knows _doton_…" Kurenai closed the door and turned. "…So?"

"W-W-Well…the problem could be this wire here…" he pointed. "It's going to require a re-route to a new box, _but_…"

"How much," asked Kurenai flatly.

"W-Well…" he named the figure.

The woman rolled her eyes. The man stood and packed up his tools. "I'll be back in an hour—I'm taking lunch."

"Well, since you're taking lunch, why don't you take this."

Kurenai picked up the Cerato vile from her desk.

The man took it and held it. "What…is…" Kurenai readily obliged, "A few drops in some water. Trust me. You'll feel a hell of a lot better."

"Um…sure."

Kurenai sat down after he left.

The window caught her attention.

Her red flowers were blooming against the blue.

Such a beautiful sight.

.

Why Raidou always got the short end of the stick, he would never know.

And it figures, growing up in Konoha. If it were Iwa, it'd be the smaller stone. Kiri, the mud puddle. Kusa, the shorter blade of grass. But Konoha? Sticks. _Sticks. Sticks. Sticks._ And paper. Lots of it. A never-ending supply.

He was in the hokage's tower today as usual…with a senbon stuck in his mouth.

The stranger came in when he was moving some books. Jobs as mundane as that were usually delegated to the hokage chuunin, but here was Raidou, taking the order, partially because Kotetsu and Izumo were mysteriously on a "mission".

The small stranger was holding a teal color pouch in her hands with a silver cord drawstring. At first, Raidou didn't even notice her. She was not even three feet tall. Figures. He nearly tripped over her with the sixteen manuals lapped in his palms, clammy and white from all the crap from the new resident of the tower… "Oi, Mister!" she shouted, "Watch it, I'm down here!"

The tone of the child's voice was vaguely familiar. Raidou stopped and turned to view the pipsqueak, shifting his weight uncomfortably. Then, he smiled. Yep. Short end of the stick.

Silver hair was brushed past her shoulder nonchalantly, "Do you know where Naruto-kun's office is?" she asked.

"Naruto-_kun_?" Even Raidou could not use that term on him anymore. Not since the war ended anyway. Raidou's smile evened, wanting to give the girl as much grief as possible; "Don'cha mean _Naruto-chama_?"

Making a disconcerted noise, she stared up at him and pouted, "I am _not_ a baby."

Raidou grinned. He swished the senbon to the other side of this mouth, locking it upright over her small form. Wondering.

"Well mister? Can you show me?" she asked.

"But I'm going the other way."

"My okaasan said to ask _you_ for guidance if I got lost."

"Well you made it here for goodness sake. How hard was it to locate the freaking _building?_"

The little girl stared at the man evenly.

"Yeah? Well I think your mother has a nasty sense of humor too."

The girl smiled.

More like it.

Raidou rolled his eyes, and nodded, "This way," He walked briskly. The girl kept up without complaint. "…Anything else?" he asked as they stood before the door. Raidou's arms felt as if they were going to detach themselves from his person.

Leisurely, the girl pursed her lip and thought a moment, clutching the pouch tightly in her small grasp. "Well…there is one thing." (Raidou rolled his eyes.) "A _couple_ things," The little girl continued. She withdrew an item from the pouch, "This is for you," she said and seeing as Raidou's hands were tied, she came up and stuffed the small brown bottle in his pocket. "And there was a message for you. You see…"

.

The Konoha Founders' Day celebrations were never bigger than they were after the war.

It goes to show, when you had the un-dead founders gathered at the war for the final showdown, it was pretty epic, and the holiday took on new life…excuse the pun.

The older nin never tired of telling genin the story. Then there were some who simply stuck their fingers in their ears and hummed really loud until the monologue was over. A few of them were still in therapy.

Raidou smiled. He wasn't one to talk. And he wasn't much of one to listen, so he sat alone with Kotetsu and Izumo (back…just in time for the festival, oddly enough) with a sake bottle and swam through the conversations to find normalcy still so strange.

There were so many men missing.

The scarred man chewed on the stick in his mouth and drank from a small cup, a skill four years honed and sober. For he couldn't really get drunk anymore. Not with a senbon stuck in his mouth. The most he could hope for was a slightly numb, loose feeling. Raidou's thoughts always remained lucid and clear. He kept thinking someday he'd acquire some illegal Iwa tap and see where that might lead. The only problem was…Genma would find some way to get to it first. So the senbon stayed in, and Raidou smiled a little. Here came the music.

Several people ducked for cover when it came on. (Thank God it wasn't the fireworks yet.) Raidou slouched, half-listening to Kotetsu running the details of new dirty trilogy to make Jiraiya blush. The words were strange, and the plot even stranger. Raidou looked at the scene again to find Mitarashi Anko finding her way to Ibiki's table. The violet haired woman had cut her hair much shorter after the war. It was very attractive. And the color was just like…

_"Kanpai!"_

Cups were smashed together, and sake spilled on the table. Iruka and a few other teachers were getting sloshed at a nearby table, laughing and smiling about something incessantly funny. It was then, Kurenai walked in. Raidou waved to her. He felt an obligation to do so when normally he wouldn't have bothered. The coal haired woman smiled and Raidou stood, excusing himself and his sake cup without much ceremony. The scarred man followed her to an empty table. "Is he not here?" Kurenai asked casually.

Raidou shook his head, sitting down with her. The woman leaned back comfortably, watching the scene languidly as he had moments before. "…How did they inform you?" Raidou asked her quietly.

"A letter."

"Oh…" Raidou smirked. So apparently, he was still the only one anyone could mess with.

"Why?" Kurenai noticed him, "How did you find out?"

Raidou moved the senbon slowly, swallowing both the alcohol and his unhealthy smirk. "From a three year old…Or thereabouts."

Kurenai closed her eyes and grinned.

Raidou always liked that about her. He never knew her that well but he knew she required no further explanations. The woman was modest, and jealous of facts. Jealous like…

The door opened soon again, but this time, it was Naruto. _"Kanpai!"_ all the ninja shouted, raising their cups and glasses toward him, but Naruto paid no mind, as if this was the seventeenth bar he'd looked into. He recognized Kurenai though and briskly walked up to her, "Kurenai-sensei…Where is _he!_"

The woman and Raidou exchanged glances. Kurenai looked up. She shrugged.

"Gaaaahhh!"

Naruto exited.

_"Kanpai!"_ Met with his farewell.

Kurenai grinned, "So, _he_ knows, too..."

Even Raidou smiled, chewing on the stick and scratching his chin. "…Hai. He does."

After Naruto's departure, Maito Gai walked in. Raidou expected him to be drunk already, but the dark-haired man was not. At least not in his head. He sauntered with a slightly waving gait over to the table, smiling broadly at Kurenai and Raidou. "Am I late?" Gai asked almost eagerly.

Kurenai nonchalantly shook her head and invited him to sit, except Gai threw back his face parallel to the ceiling, "Oh God dammit!" He turned, and went back outside. And then, after several minutes passed by, he came back in and asked her again, "Sorry, am I late?"

"Oh, yes, Gai, you are," Kurenai learned from her mistake. "Terribly so."

"Oh! Ha ha! I'm so sorry," Gai sat down and ordered more sake and hors d'oeuvres for the table. He continued on without fumbling. "Do you know how _hard_ it is to find a babysitter in this town on _Konoha Founders' Day_?" he asked, smiling like a new father.

"Why yes, Gai, actually I do," Kurenai grinned.

"It's a _bitch _of thing," Gai sounded, shaking his head, "I kept _telling_ my new genin they couldn't come with me, but gosh, they're so _persistent!"_ Met with smiles and silence, Gai pursued Raidou, "Why don't you have kids?"

"I hate kids."

"Pffshaww…They're _great!_"

"I can think of _one_ that's not," Raidou muttered, containing his grim smirk.

"One? That's not?" Gai was in the dark. He switched on the lamp with another shot of his sake. "Who?"

"One that's just like…"

The door opened.

Yuugao walked in.

There were no acknowledgments, no shouting, no cheers—she walked in, looking for Raidou and found the table. And when she got there, she apologized, "I'm sorry, Kakashi is running late…as usual. I left him at the memorial…"

Kurenai moved down and Gai switched sides to sit next to Raidou. "He's late?" Maito Gai uttered with a half-smile. "Ha..." The exuberant man then stared into his sake wistfully, lost in old memories. Meanwhile, Raidou couldn't keep his eyes off the violet haired woman. He finally did break his stare, smiling wider than the senbon stuck in his mouth. Yuugao could see it twitch and move. Just like…

"So how are you? When did you get back?" Kurenai asked her warmly.

"It was a few days ago, actually. Thanks for being here," she smiled gratefully. "I hope you're well."

Kurenai nodded. "My child is the only one who gives me trouble," she smiled bravely, her eyes dropping for a moment on the table in remembrance.

Asuma.

Yuugao also blinked her eyes quickly a few times. "And you, Gai?"

"All the better for knowing you both are back in town!" he raised his glass cheerfully. "Careful. I'm gonna track him down tonight," the man added, in a very low tone of voice.

"Funny, he said the same thing..." Yuugao smiled. It was much like the smile of her husband. Her eyes showed it though she was really overwhelmed inside. Gai appeared happy too, setting down the cup and grinning. And for a moment, the pain of his losses lessened.

Neji.

Raidou finally broke his stare again. Really, he didn't know why he continued looking at her in such a fixed fashion. She was a married woman now. Yuugao noticed him again. The scarred man raised his head, but not his eyes. "Thanks…for the vile," he said. "It wasn't marked—what was in it?"

"You really want to know?"

"'Course I wanna know," he smiled at her.

"Some honeysuckle…a little bit of Pine; a little bit of Gorse…And…Agrimony." She pronounced the last one with difficulty. Her tone fell quiet. Raidou looked up and frowned. The senbon fell forward a little, of it's own measure, with something like gravity tugging on the very end. Raidou finally realized the reason for the attraction, and the scarred man smiled, "Figures…"

Genma.

Yuugao looked down, reining in her grief and tears. "I had…her give…the Oak, to…Naruto. I'm so sorry she was trouble to you."

Kurenai smiled. "Well, I don't think Naruto took any of it. He came in here a while ago, looking as if he'd gone through twenty bars, looking for Kakashi."

The violet-haired woman smiled. She could still remember the scenes of Genma and Hayate, walking into bars…sometimes quite literally. Mostly…it was Hayate. But only because he strived to do everything his best friend Genma could. Sickness could never hamper him. It was only an unwanted curse.

The yellow haired boy, who never gave up—never gave in, was so much like

Hayate.

"Wait a second, _who're_ we talking about?" Gai finally started to slurr.

Raidou, Yuugao, and Kurenai all exchanged glances. "There's something you're not telling me…" Gai waved a finger under his thick black brow.

Yuugao smiled. "…My daughter."

Gai blinked. "Y…Y-you're…w_-wha_…?" Gai leaned back in utter disbelief and then he leaned forward even more, his voice low and bewildered, "So how the _hell_ did _you_ find a babysitter for _tonight?"_

The woman laughed. "Oh…well…Kakashi…had connections…" she smiled. "Although…it'll be…harder, next year…" Yuugao's smile turned to one of pure and utter embarrassment. The woman was never at ease being the center of attention with such startling news. Luckily, Kurenai, then Raidou, and then Maito Gai began to see.

"Oh…!" Kurenai clasped her hands together in anticipation.

"Yeah…" Yuugao smiled, her head falling downward; her eyes gazing at the wood grain in the table. "…We're…we're pretty sure it's going to be a _boy_, this time..."

…Cheers.

.

.

.

Naruto kept searching. He was an Oak-type. He never gave up. Never gave in. His old sensei must be _somewhere_ in this old town! And Naruto was going to search until the end of time to find him.

After checking the memorials fifteen times and the bars about thirty, he slowed by the old ramen stand where he enjoyed ramen with Iruka sensei and all his other compatriots from time to time, including Kakashi, once or twice, long ago. Naruto was about to look the other way and ignore the sweet smells wafting from the place when he saw the legs of a man, leaning on the counter, toward the end. One foot was crossed over the other and one arm was drawn up near his face, as if…as if the shinobi were reading something.

Naruto jogged over, and paused, slowly, as the big folds of red and white fabric still shielded the torso, and the face…

The young man stared for a while, frozen in place, unable to move forward or turn back. But soon, something else caught his attention. It was a silver-haired little girl running through the street straight ahead of him with all the speed of Naruto's father, laughing and giggling with Sakura and Sasuke chasing after her in hot pursuit. Naruto opened his mouth dumbly, and Sasuke turned his head. With a roll of his eyes, the Uchiha continued the chase. His glance seemed to know. And then so did Naruto.

He figured the war taught him understanding, on a grand scale.

So after the galloping bandwagon went by in a silver, pink, and indigo blue flash, Naruto smiled at the mysterious shinobi in the ramen stand, and then closed his mouth. The yellow-haired boy turned his face and his big white cloak but before he left to join the chase, he knew exactly what to say. He pointed his mouth at the mask and shouted the phrase loud and clear…"Hey, if you think I'm gonna train her, you're _NUTS!_"

.

.

.

.

-by Kariko Emma, _Caliko_


End file.
